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Well It's official. Daily Radar has closed its doors for good. They issued a somewhat numerous Top 12 list of why they closed the site (found here). Unfortunately the list doesn't answer any burning questions, like why they had to close in the first place.

But a whole lot of questions remain unanswered: What is the fate of Imagine's Daily Radar sites overseas (DR UK seems to remain unchanged at the moment) and the Future Network? (some affiliates have already been given walking papers). Will we see the restoration of some of Imagine's old properties (PC Gamer Online, Next-Generation Online) and will any of this affect any of Imagine's print publications. We honestly don't know.. and Imagine isn't talking. We'll try to get you more details on this story throughout the week. In the meantime, you can still enjoy Daily Radar's content by following this link.

GameSurge extends our greatest regrets to Daily Radar, as they were our number one source for video gaming news.

The unbeknownst Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura demo has been posted for download at French gaming site Clubic. This massive 252.6 MB demo for Troika's isometric RPG is in English, but the ftp server is already extremely slow, so you may as well want to wait for the new issue of Computer Gaming World which will offer it on a cover disk.

GameSurge now has an IRC channel! You can find us at irc.gamesnet.net, in channel #Gamesurge (type /join #gamesurge in your IRC client). If you don't have IRC, you can get it here. You can come in our channel and hang out (we really need idlers), and if you are interested in working for GameSurge, please message Hobbes in the channel! We need more newsposters, and a lot of content people, so if you're interested, please drop by and let us know!

There have been quite a few hot rumors that Rogue Software (the makers of Alice) have been hired to make Counter-Strike 2 for Valve Software's Half-Life 2 as of late, but after talking to a couple people very close to the publishing source, it is indeed not the case, nor will it ever be. Rogue Software may be developing some single player content for the original Half-Life, but nothing has been signed so far. So, in conclusion - there are no plans for a Counter-Strike 2 for any game, and stay tuned to GameSurge for any late-breaking details.

Next Friday, Microsoft will begin taking applications for the "sneak preview" of MechCommander 2. Sign up forms will be randomly appearing on their participating sites, and only the first ten people at each site will be accepted, although after they stop accepting new submissions, they will randomly draw an additional 50 from the remaining entries. More info is available at Microsoft's official MC2 site.

The weekly Halo update is online at halo.bungie.org this morning, with Matt Soell providing a round-up of happenings in Bungie's offices in the development of their PC and Xbox action game. This update has word on various details they're incorporating for the E3 demo, including the motion sensor, decal animation, AI and sound improvements, and more.

Traditionally, when it comes to reporting about E3, gaming news sites would let us, the gamers, know what new games would be shown.This year, however, it has become fashionable to report not what will be shown, but what will NOT be shown. Hellchick has some advanced knowledge of a few OTHER things that will NOT be at E3 this year, such as a giant meteor wiping out the Monolith booth!

PC Hardware posted an article describing how to modify a heatsink to achieve better cooling. Take a quote:

“Make sure you don't cut a bigger hole or all is lost. Be very careful that the copper plate is not thicker than the base of the heatsink, in this case you will only succeed to damage you heatsink. Again, the copper plate and therefore the hole must be one or two mm thinner than the base of the heatsink.”

Montreal, Quebec. April 26th, 2001 - Strategy First Inc.> and eSim Games announced today that they have signed a worldwide retail publishing agreement for Steel Beasts, making it the first time that the game will be available in retail stores.

"Strategy First is thrilled to be bringing this terrific title to market," says Steve Wall, V.P., Business Development. "We felt it was a shame that the majority of consumers couldn't get their hands on this excellent game, so we did something about it!"

"eSim Games is very happy with the partnership, " says Al Delaney, owner of eSim Games. “We’ve known Strategy First for quite some time, and I think this is a good fit. We’re also excited about making Steel Beasts more easily accessible, and more widely known.”

Steel Beasts is a detailed PC-based simulator of modern mechanized warfare, centered around two of the world’s most awesome main battle tanks: the US’s M1A1 Abrams, and Germany’s Leopard 2A4. Players can experience all the sights and sounds of modern armored combat from the gunner’s or tank commander’s position, as well as the challenges of tactical planning and decision making from a powerful map view. In addition, multiplayer support allows any mission to be played over a network with any cooperative or competitive style of play, including multiple players in a single tank.

Steel Beasts was awarded "Best PC Simulation of 2000" by PC Gamer Magazine, Computer Games Magazine, SimHQ.com, GamePen and Wargamer. It has also received multiple Editor's Choice awards, and is in use at the US Military Academy (West Point) to help train future armor officers. Steel Beasts is a must-buy for any tank sim fan!

Scheduled for release in May 2001, Steel Beasts will be distributed throughout North America by Infogrames and in Europe by our other worldwide partners.

The latest Deus Ex multiplayer patch has been released, which comes in two flavors. One is the 35.7 MB full patch, for those of you who didn't download the multiplayer patch previously, and the other is the smaller 4.7 MB patch for those of you who have the previous multiplayer patch. Also, the latest SDK has been uploaded as well, weighing in at 6.2 MB.

Sony is releasing a Linux kit for PlayStation2. The kit, which includes a hard drive with built-in 10Mbit Ethernet socket that will plug into the console's PCMCIA slot, a mouse, keyboard, and a PS2-compatible version of Linux, will only be compatible with Japanese versions of the console. A photo of the kit is available here.

Blizzard let us know that they have fixed the duplication problems on the Diablo II Realm server. They also asks those with information regarding hacks to please inform them by sending an email to hacks@blizzard.com. For a complete rundown of what's been done to the Realm servers, check out this Battle.net post.

PC.IGN has posted a new Warcraft III preview, looking ahead to the 3D real-time strategy game in the works at Blizzard. The article offers a development update of sorts before discussing several game features, including Mana stones, the Night Elves race, the camera system, and more. The three accompanying screenshots look familiar though.

Russian developers Akella have opened their official site for Sea Dogs II, the working title of their third-person role-playing sequel that is currently scheduled for a Spring 2002 release. The site offers copious amounts of game information, new concept art and static game scenes, and more.

The main focus of the game is of course teamplay, but you needn’t scour the neighbourhood for 15 willing friends before handing over your cash – over the past week I’ve seen people band together on public servers, creating elaborate networks of motion sensors and defensive turrets around the flag in CTF to weed out stealthy intruders, and incredible battleship offensives streaking across the skies and laying waste to enemy generators and defence systems thanks to well-trained bombardiers.

Revolution have announced that their classic adventure game Broken Sword : Shadow of the Templars will be released on the new GameBoy Advance towards the end of the year. Full details and screenshots available on EuroGamer.

Thanks to Voodoo Extreme for letting us know that they've put up some new screen shots of EverQuest: The Shadows of Luclin; here are some of the nicer ones captured for your local viewing pleasure. This latest expansion will feature 25 new zones, new higher detailed character models, beefed up 3D graphics engine, a new player race, the beastlord character class, perks for players over level 60 and much more!

Blizzard has released some more Diablo II: Lord of Destruction screenshots. The first is a new screenshot of the Assasin. The second shot shows off the War Pike - another new item that can be found in the Diablo II Expansion.

Fan page SoF Center has conducted a 10 question interview with Jim Hughes, a level designer at Raven Software on Soldier of Fortune 2. Although he's not allowed to discuss the game in-depth yet, most of the questions here deal with level design in general and how the Quake III Arena technology differs from the Quake II tech they used for the original Soldier of Fortune.

A new guide to Black & White is up at GameSpot this evening. Like all of their guides, it's available online or as a downloadable PDF file (Adobe Acrobat is required), and it features general strategies, tips for raising your creature, and a full walkthrough for each of the five different lands in the game.

..and any other MMORPG.. Worlds.Com have U.S. patent 6,219,045, which in essence is The present invention provides a highly scalable architecture for a three-dimensional graphical, multi-user, interactive virtual world system. A plurality of users can interact in the three-dimensional, computer-generated graphical space where each user executes a client process to view a virtual world from the perspective of that user..

What does this mean? Well, let's just hope that Worlds.Com doesn't decide to get mad at Everquest for breaking their patent...

EuroGamer has up a preview of Throne of Darkness, a hack 'n' slash role-playing oriental style, courtesy of a group of Diablo veterans (you can definitely tell by look at the screen interface in screenshots). Here's a snippet:

Set in a fantasy version of medieval Japan filled with sorcerors and samurai, Throne of Darkness tasks you with toppling an evil warlord whose minions are attacking your master's castle. The rooms are filled with debris and corpses, and your first duty is to battle your way out into the courtyard and defeat the leader of the raid, gathering any other surviving samurai as you go.

Over the past two months CSports.net have been working with The Cyberathlete Professional League to produce the Official CPL Rankings. Csports.net have just opened up their preliminary version of the Quake 3 Individual ranks for viewing. Go to http://www.csports.net/cplrankings.asp to see the official Quake 3 Rankings.

When viewing the rankings please bear in mind the health warning.

“The Official CPL Rankings do precisely what they say on the tin. They rank the players who participate in CPL main events according to their performance in those events. The three principles that we have tried to follow are:

The system does not attempt to rank players according to their absolute ability in the world

The system ranks players in the world according to their placing in official CPL events

Simplicity and transparency”

Official CPL Counterstrike rankings are being worked on and will be released in the near future.

ARVADA, CO – April 24, 2001 – Maximum Charisma Studios is in the process of selecting the 1,000 testers needed for the June Phase One testing of Fighting Legends. Testers will be chosen for this round based on system specs. July starts Phase Two testing and will increase to 5,000 testers. Final Phase begins in August with up to 25,000 testers. The game is currently in Alpha and scheduled for release in November of this year. Gamers interested in participating in the beta test can sign up at www.mcszone.com.

Fighting Legends is a role-play strategy title with action elements. The unique look of anime style characters is set amidst a myriad of colors and bazaar landscapes. Choosing from 81 potential avatars, players strive to diversify their squad of 16 characters. Among a community of thousands of other gamers, players will form alliances and guilds to help support their squad diversification and overall strategy. In addition to fighting, there is an assortment of quests to choose from, ranging from mini quest scenarios to multi-player uber quests. GM hosted events will be a prominent element with rewards such as; relics, in-game monuments, cash prizes, tournaments and more.

For more information about the game contact Dale Lullo at dale@maximumcharisma.com or 303.432.0286. For the IRC users, MCS host an online chat session in IRC every Wednesday evening at 5:30 pm MST. The channel is irc.enterthegame.com at #Fightinglegends.

Among perhaps the most unusual of online worlds is A Tale in the Desert, an Egyptian-themed game that lacks the element of combat. Our curiosity aroused, we contacted President Andrew L. "Teppy" Tepper and Chief Technology Officer Joshua Yelon of developer eGenesis for this extensive A Tale in the Desert Interview, which includes four great new screenshots.

SimHQ.com Review: Intel has launched their latest warrior in the CPU wars, the P4 1.7 Ghz Willamette. Bubba "Masterfung" Wolford puts this new offering through the SimHQ.com test and takes a look at how it performs. Read about it here.

Today Stomped chats with Illusion Softworks's Lead Designer Daniel Vavra to find out more about the upcoming Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven game. The interview covers some general details about the game, where development is presently at, along with a bit of a discussion on how a European company is able to make a game with such a decidedly American theme.

CHANGES TO THE TOURNAMENTWe have been reviewing everybody’s comments and measured the opinions of the gaming world. Consequently we have changed the 4 qualification groups to:- Western US- Eastern US- Northern Europe- Southern Europe

Do not be too keen about these groups, just sign up to the region nearest to you. The NWL gaming engine will always match you with someone near you. So if you live in Australia, don’t panic! You only have to ensure that your "ping-neighbours" are signed up too. Those who already signed up do NOT need to sign up again, since their signups have been reassigned to the new regions.

IMPORTANT NOTICETo correct a general misunderstanding: The Networkleague Tournament No. 1is not for the elite only. About $10,000 goes to in-tournament prices foreverybody, e.g.:- Most suicidal player- Most inaccurate player- Most jumppad’ing player

Montreal, Quebec. April 24th, 2001 - Strategy First and CDV Software are proud to announce that Cossacks: European Wars has shipped and will be available in retail stores nationwide in days to come.

"We couldn't be happier to announce that Cossacks has shipped to the North American market, " says Don McFatridge, President of Strategy First. " From the feedback we've received so far, it seems the North American gaming community is embracing the game as passionately as our European neighbors have!"

"Following the success of Sudden Strike, we are looking forward to launching Cossacks and further quenching the thirst of our RTS fans," says Keith Rieger, President of CDV Software Entertainment USA Inc. "with up to 8,000 units, 80 unit variations, and 16 nations… Cossacks significantly raises the bar in RTS gaming!"

About Cossacks: European Wars

Cossacks: European Wars, a real-time strategy game based on historical events of XVI to XVIII Century Europe, depicts more than 85 large-scale wars and battles; most notably, the Thirty Year War, the English Revolution, the Spanish Succession, and the Seven Year War.

Players are able to orchestrate grand battles between sixteen nations, with up to 8,000 units and over 80 different unit types. Each nation possesses military forces in the infantry, cavalry, artillery and navy, with their own unique economic, technical and military advantages and drawbacks. Thus, providing a vast choice of tactics and strategy in a realistic war against the enemy.

Wars take place upon a 3D landscape where players must take advantage of the entire environment -by commanding heights, hiding behind obstacles and capturing enemy installations - all in an effort to claim victory against the enemy. Single player campaigns recreate historical scenarios in which players must fulfill objectives from territory exploration to army formation, sometimes with limited forces. Multiplayer action over LAN and Internet allows for up to 8 players to challenge each other in Random Map and Historical Battle modes.

Cossacks is being distributed by Infogrames throughout North America at a suggested retail price of $ 39.95. For a full list of participating retailers log onto www.strategyfirst.com.

"Quake III: Team Arena is one of the newest additions from id Software and to the Quake series. While the previous games focused more on deathmatch, gamers have wanted more but is this new add-on for Quake III worth the time or is it just a quick creation to get some extra cash while we wait for Doom III? Check out 3D GameForce's review and find out what you'll find in it!"

"We have all heard about the hilarious giant creatures and the way that you can train their revolutionary AI to aid you in the game, how they will dance to your music and design their own websites, complete with snapshots of their friends, not to mention the ability to receive e-mail, ICQ and SMS messages within the game itself. Unfortunately the first of these features falls far short of expectations, and the rest of them either don't work properly or were cut from the game entirely in a desperate last ditch attempt to actually release the damn thing after months in development limbo. But even without many of the crazy features that Peter Molyneux and friends apparently had planned for us, Black & White still comes across as a lot of neat ideas which don't quite add up to a game."

"It was 1971 Vietnam, I was knee deep in rice patties and the enemy was closing in on my position. I had become separated from my Recon squad without a map or directions and running low on ammo. I could here charlie coming closer and closer towards me so I had to act quickly. I whipped out my trusty laptop, hooked up my Earthmate Hyperformance GPS receiver and fired up Delorme StreetAtlas. In the time it would take you to empty a 20 round clip with full auto I had locked on to 4 satelites and plotted an escape route that took me back to the base. That was one of the most scariest moments in my life, but I have my Earthmate GPS unit to thank for saving my butt. It is only fitting that I pay tribute to the small device by writing up a review."

The Toshiba employs a Logitech Trackpoint device (nipple), from my previous experiences, once the user gets used to it, is very easy to use and provides with a comfortable position. However it is very hard to use the first few times, and I found myself loosing the cursor quite a few times. The inclusion of scroll buttons however is a great bonus, and they come-in very useful for web browsing, especially considering the 800x600 resolution.

On the FIC we have the standard “Alps Glidepoint” touchpad, which can be used straight away, and has near perfect sensitivity. It didn’t feel quite as good as those on the high end machines you see in the likes of Dixon´s, it doesn’t have any scroll capability and you cannot tap it to click or double click, it is still good enough for light operation though.

KT7A RAID review. The reviewer compared it with the old KT7 and also tried several overclocking and benchmark tests. Overall the motherboard proved to be a worthy successor of KT7. Take a quote:

“I run programs which require a lot of CPU time and after six months of KT7 experience I can tell much more about its stability than I said in my review last year. I work under Windows 2000 and Linux, no Windows ME or 98 and under both operating systems the board was very stable considering the overclocking conditions.”

TACO BELL AND XBOX TEAM UP TO DELIVER MICROSOFT'S LARGEST CONSUMER PROMOTION IN COMPANY HISTORY

Taco Bell Announced as First Co-Marketing Partner for Xbox

REDMOND, Wash. - April 23, 2001 - Microsoft Corp. today announced that Taco Bell Corp., America's leading Mexican-style, quick-service restaurant chain, has signed on as the first promotional partner for the launch of the highly anticipated Microsoft® Xbox™ video game system. The companies plan to combine their powerhouse brands in a promotional campaign to reach their shared target audiences across the United States and Canada. Taco Bell will provide substantial media support that will aggressively publicize Xbox, and the company will host major in-store promotions to support the Xbox launch.

"We are excited about teaming up with Taco Bell to turn up the volume on the Xbox excitement during the system's launch period," said John O'Rourke, vice president of sales and marketing for Xbox. "Our co-marketing relationship is based on our commitment to deliver an entertaining, top-of-the-line promotion to our customers."

The video game console industry is recognized as a hot form of entertainment with a broadening demographic. Taco Bell will build on the anticipation around Xbox to connect to its target audience through fun and entertaining vehicles.

"We're thrilled to team up with Microsoft as a promotional partner for Xbox, one of the most exciting entertainment products of 2001," said Debbie Myers, vice president of media, entertainment and licensing for Taco Bell. "Our energetic brand personality mirrors the edgy Xbox brand, which is already resonating with our customers."

The marketing alliance between Microsoft and Taco Bell was orchestrated by GMR Marketing, a recognized leader in music, entertainment and lifestyle marketing. Taco Bell is the first promotional partner to be announced in a series of strategic co-marketing relationships that will creatively drive brand awareness and preference for Xbox.

GameSpot has put up a new TenSpot feature: Best Multiplayer Games. Here is a clip from the article:

It seems odd to call multiplayer gaming a hot trend in gaming as both the mainstream and game media often tend to do. Multiplayer gaming has been around as long as people have been playing games recreationally. In the earliest days of video games, both kids and adults flocked to booming arcades to test their skills against each other by taking turns at the controller or by playing cooperatively or competitively. As networking became more prevalent in the workplace and home, computer games evolved in step, and multiplayer mode was no longer an added bonus that only a privileged few could enjoy. A few of us might even remember the earliest multiplayer games, MUDs, or multiuser dungeons, where adventuring took place via text commands. The biggest change, of course, came about with the meteoric rise of Internet use. With widespread dial-up and the increasing number of broadband connectivity options, online gaming has become the dominant form of multiplayer gaming, where gamers gather on servers to face off in heated matches, play team games to save the world, or work cooperatively against other teams of players who would annex your territories, weapons, or loot.

Computer chip manufacturer Intel has introduced the long-awaited Pentium 4 processor at 1.7 GHz, the highest performance microprocessor for computers. It expects computer manufacturers worldwide to launch PCs based on this new microprocessor, which is available now in 1,000 unit quantities for 352 USD. Computer manufactures are expected to offer a range of machine choices and prices. Intel said the Pentium 4 processor is its first new processor design since 1995, when it launched the Pentium Pro processor.

Microsoft announced today that they've signed a deal - the largest promotion in its history - with Taco Bell to promote the Xbox this fall. "We are excited about teaming up with Taco Bell to turn up the volume on the Xbox excitement during the system's launch period," said John O'Rourke, vice president of sales and marketing for Xbox. "Our co-marketing relationship is based on our commitment to deliver an entertaining, top-of-the-line promotion to our customers." The companies plan to combine their powerhouse brands in a promotional campaign to reach their shared target audiences across the United States and Canada.

Taco Bell will provide substantial media support that will aggressively publicize Xbox, and the company will host major in-store promotions to support the Xbox launch. "We're thrilled to team up with Microsoft as a promotional partner for Xbox, one of the most exciting entertainment products of 2001," said Debbie Myers, vice president of media, entertainment and licensing for Taco Bell. "Our energetic brand personality mirrors the edgy Xbox brand, which is already resonating with our customers."

A 3D game engine adds beauty and depth to gameplay that isn't possible in 2D," said Longpre. "While using this engine does pose additional problems, such as visualisation, line-of-sight rules, higher system specs, etc., we felt that the beauty of the Dune universe and the added benefits to gameplay were well worth it.

Blizzard has issued a warning about a cheat exploit used to kill off hardcore (if you die once, the show is over) characters:

We have been informed that people are using a message spamming bug in Diablo II that can cause Hardcore characters to die. We are implementing a fix soon, but in the interim, please password protect your Hardcore games to prevent unwanted individuals from entering your game and possibly getting your Hardcore character killed.

Blizzard suggests password protecting your games, and possibly not even playing online with your hardcore character until a fix is imbued.

IGN Cube have wheedled some information out of Acclaim. The site's story reports that Acclaim is working on five games for the Gamecube -- Crazy Taxi, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2, Extreme G3, NFL Quarterback Club 2002 and All-Star Baseball 2002.

The five games are currently slated for a November 2001 release, although those dates are subject to change. It just so happens that November is the current release date for Nintendo's new console.

Acclaim claims that it will not show any Gamecube games at this year's E3 -- likely due to Nintendo's influence. We're happy to see that Sega's hit Crazy Taxi is among the five (Acclaim is currently working on the port to PS2). We hope to have additional details on Acclaim's, and other third parties', Gamecube line at this year's E3 in May.

This weekend's review on EuroGamer takes a quick look at King of Dragon Pass, a complex turn-based fantasy strategy game with added role-playing and adventure elements.

"Every turn you will face a decision of some kind. Your warriors might complain about the way they are treated, members of your clan will get into trouble, curses must be lifted and spirits appeased, friends and allies will ask for aid, mysterious items and races are discovered, and strangers will come to your court requesting sanctuary. Each problem comes with a wide range of possible solutions, and depending on which course of action you choose the effects on your clan's morale, health, reputation and relations with other settlements can be drastic."

Think game voice acting is easy? It's not a simple matter of "oof"-ing into the microphone on cue. Oh no. There's preparation. There's proper audio equipment. There's the ability to act. Yes, act. And it's not easy when you've never done it before. Step into Hellchick's world for a little glimpse into what it's like to be one of the voices of the mod community, literally.

The CPL have received numerous emails requesting that the CPL 4-Year Anniversary Event be delayed by at least one week. The requests have been sent mostly by students in Canada because apparently final examinations take place the same week as the event was originally scheduled. In an attempt to maximize the community's participation in this event, the CPL has moved the event back by one week. The CPL 4-Year Anniversary Event will now be held on Thursday, June 28, 2001 and will end Sunday, July 1, 2001.

The CPL also announced that the main tournament will be a QuakeWorld one-on-one competition, and will have modest cash prizes for the top winners. The CPL has reduced the 4-day admission price of this event to $20, and profits for this event will be donated to a still to be determined, non-religious children's charity. The Hyatt Regency Dallas, has also agreed to reduce their room rate to $90 a night for single or double occupancy. Hotel reservations for this event will open Wednesday at their international toll free number (800) 233-1234.

Most of the activities for this event will be centered around the BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) area which will accommodate up to 800 computers, twice as large as the SPEAKEASY.net BYOC. Also this event will host C3 (Consummate Computer Competition), which will be primarily sponsored by the makers of the CPL's Official Drink: Bawls. Computer enthusiasts are invited to showcase their computers at Bawls C3, to be judged on two main categories:

1. Best Showpiece - This category is based on pure aesthetics. The winning system will represent the epitome of raw originality and aggressive looks. The workmanship must be precise and elegant but convey a brawny disposition. Computers will be judged by their looks both inside and out.

2. Best Performance Tuning - This category will be judged based on modifications that have helped fine tune the performance of the system. Items considered are air flow, active cooling units and passive cool units. Systems will gain extra points in demonstrating cooling benefits with temperature monitoring equipment.

The three top winners from each category will receive, courtesy of Bawls:

1st place $500 (plus a case of Bawls) 2nd place $300 3rd place $200

The CPL will announce the prizes and rules for the CPL 4-Year Anniversary Event shortly and online registration is expected to open in a few weeks. The CPL staff is inviting the entire hardcore gaming community to join the CPL's 4th year birthday celebration. Stay tuned to www.thecpl.com for more announcements on what surely will be one of the best international LAN gaming events of the year.

Stomped has learned that 2015's Quake engined game CIA Operative has officially gone gold. Along with this ground breaking news, Stomped has also scored the first publicly released screenshots of the game. You can view the whole deal here.

Slain teacher's family launches suit aimed at media violence is a Denver Post.com article about an action stemming from the Columbine school shooting a couple of years ago that says "Linda Sanders, wife of slain teacher Dave Sanders, and two of his stepdaughters filed a multibillion-dollar, class-action lawsuit Thursday against 25 media companies, most of which manufacture or distribute video games." The article also describes a letter sent to John Carmack by the lawyer for the family of a student injured in the shooting asking he "prohibit the sale and distribution of all video games rated for mature audiences to children under 17 - and to do it by April 30," going on to point out that the statute of limitations on that family's right to sue won't expire until the victim turns 18 this June. Here's a bit more from the article on the lawsuit:

The Sanders' suit, filed hours before a two-year statute of limitations expired, claims that if not for violent games and other media images - in particular, a school massacre scene from the movie "The Basketball Diaries" - the rampage by Harris and Klebold wouldn't have happened.

The suit asks for $5 billion in damages, plus damages of $5,000 to $10 million for individual parties in the class action.

"But money may be the smallest part of the goal," said John DeCamp, the Sanders' Nebraska-based attorney. "This is a class action that says that, ultimately, money ain't gonna do it."

The suit contends that the $20-billion-a-year video game industry will not effectively regulate itself, and that court intervention is necessary to keep violent games out of the hands of minors.

In other notes, Nintendo of America is the only company specifically named as a defendant in the suit, and the lawyer for the family that wrote to John Carmack (which is unrelated to the lawsuit) is Florida attorney Jack Thomson, who helped file the federal lawsuit against dozens of entertainment companies following the 1997 school shooting in Paducah, KY.

The Veterans Clan has released an IRC bot for TRIBES 2 that can broadcast action from a TRIBES 2 match virtually live to an IRC network. In addition to providing all sorts of info and statistics to participants in an IRC channel, it also serves as somewhat of an administrative front-end, allowing server admins to kick or ban players and send other commands to the server console from IRC.

King of Dragon Pass is certainly one of the more unusual games that we have come across in recent times, putting you in charge of a clan in the fantasy world of Glorantha, as used by the popular pen-and-paper role-playing game RuneQuest. At heart it is a turn-based strategy game, with screen after screen of mind-numbing stats to wade through as you decide how much of your land to assign for crops and grazing, how many farmers, warriors and craftsmen you want in your village, and which gods to sacrifice to. You can explore distant lands to discover new tribes and treasures, raid or trade with other clans, carry out diplomacy, and choose which advisors to put on your Clan Ring. At first sight it's all a bit overwhelming, although there is a comprehensive manual provided if you need some help.

Black&White (B&W) is simply divine. It's a bit hard for me to come up with a better expression to define Peter Molyneux's first title since he left Electronic Arts and Bullfrog, and founded Lionhead Studios. After games like Populous or Dungeon Keeper, which had Molyneux's genius touch, B&W stands up to be considered the most ambitious project in his career.

Lab Rat, starring Larry the Rat is a game in the same spirit as those found on Windows, such as Solitaire or Minesweeper and contains a feast of features:

- It's an amazing maze game containing 10,000 mazes!- It's completely free to download and play!- You can play Lab Rat offline as well as online, by competing against otherLab Rat users from around the world!- It's fully customizable, giving users the chance to create their own skinsand sounds for the game. The best skins are linked off Gamesmagnet.com!- So check Larry out at his own personalized website on Gamesmagnet.com.

* Registration to Gamesmagnet.com is required to make use of competing against other users online.

FilePlanet is now mirroring the files for the action packed modification for Half-Life, Action HL. This new beta has tons of great new features and is a must for gamers looking for an action movie like style to gameplay.

IMPRESSIONS GAMES OPENS ZEUS OFFICIAL EXPANSION: POSEIDON OPEN BETAAPPLICATIONSBeta-testing program gives hundreds chance to play early release version. Impressions Games today opened applications for the beta program for their upcoming strategy game, Zeus Official Expansion: Poseidon, an add-on for their latest city-building hit: Zeus: Master of Olympus. The open beta begins May 18th, and up to 250 testers will be selected from those who sign up at http://beta.impressionsgames.com/poseidon/.Beta testers must already own the North American version of Zeus: Master of Olympus. Selection for the beta test is based on a variety of criteria: system specs, experience with other Impressions Games products, and skill in documenting suggestions and communicating them clearly. Contributing beta testers will receive not only pre-release builds of the game for testing and evaluation, but also boxed copies when the game is finished. Selected testers will be notified on May 1, and required to sign and return a standard Non-Disclosure Agreement. Poseidon expands the scope of Impressions Games' city-building hit, Zeus: Master of Olympus to cover more of the ancient world. In Poseidon, players will build and rule the fabled cities of Atlantis, a kingdom of science and technology. They will mine the mysterious mineral "orichalc," establish colonies in ancient Americas, Africa, Europe, and Asia, and trade with ancient civilizations. New industries, massive monuments, and characters unique to Atlantis expand the city-building experience presented in Zeus: Master of Olympus. Never-before seen gods, monsters, and heroes help tell the tale as players build Atlantis into a mighty kingdom. Players will also be able to create their own adventures in Greece or Atlantis with a powerful, yet easy-to-use Adventure Editor.

Designed with strategy gamers of all skill level in mind, Zeus: Master of Olympus makes it simple to get a city built and running smoothly. But running the city is only a part of mastering Zeus. Players have to contend with driven deities who can appear in the city to cause happiness or havoc.Famous heroes wander the countryside, and can be summoned when their help is needed. Players must defend their cities from hostile invaders, monsters, and other Greek cities. Mixing the historical with the mythological, Zeus is divided into quests and objectives that can be completed in about an hour,making it the ideal diversion for both moderate gamers and hardcore strategists alike.

This week on EuroGamer is an interview with Hungarian developers Philos Labs about their forthcoming steampunk-styled jailbreak game, "Escape From Alcatraz". Lead designer Antal Ruttmayer gives us the full skinny on the game, its influences, their extensive research on the subject matter (going as far as to send a team of developers into a local jail!), and the demise of the Indrema Linu console amongst other subjects.

At first glance it looks very much like a Commandos style tactical action game, with the player controlling a small squad of specialists. But according to Antal this is going to be "enriched with action and adventure elements in order to make an alloy of the best features of these genres". And then there are the prisons themselves. "What makes Escape from Alcatraz really special is that the main characters form part of a complex, working system (the life of the prison), so you have to take its rules into consideration when planning and executing a get-out".

Bastion PR have just released a batch of screenshots from several of the new PlayStation 2 games which Virgin / Titus are going to be unveiling at E3 next month. On the menu are motor racing games Downforce and Lotus Challenge (which will also be appearing on Xbox), arcade-style flight sim Top Gun, and a new shooter based on the Robocop franchise.

Impressions Games is accepting applications for the beta program for their upcoming strategic game, Zeus Official Expansion: Poseidon. The beta begins on the 18th of next month; up to 250 testers will be selected from those who sign up. Beta testers must own the U.S. and Canadian version of Zeus. Selection for the beta test will be based on PC specs, experience with other Impressions products, and expertise in documenting and communicating suggestions. Contributing beta testers will receive pre-release builds of the game for testing and evaluation as well as boxed copies when the product is finished. Selected testers will be notified on the first of next month and be required to return a standard non-disclosure agreement. Sign up here.

Two screenshots made their way onto the web today for a new Xbox formula 1 game. Downforce is a new racing game supposedly being published by Virgin Interactive in the U.K. Little is known about the game other than the screenshots featured here, but more details are expected to be revealed at E3.

Voodoo Extreme cornered Raven Software's Jake Simpson in hopes of shaking him down for more info on Soldier of Fortune 2. The interview reveals what engine will be used for the game, the basic storyline and a few other interesting nuggets. Check it out at Voodoo Extreme.

Nintendo has confirmed today that the GameCube console will be at next month's E3Expo, through they are not saying in what state of development it will be in (like if it will be playable). Nintendo made this announcement to supress rumors that said the GameCube would not have a physical presence at the annual interactive entertainment trade show. Nintendo also said that they will announce a list of game titles that are in development for GameCube, along with how much the next-gen system will cost across all territories.

In case you missed it yesterday, Loki announced that the Linux version of Tribes 2 has been shipped to retail outlets throughout North America. You can learn more about at the Loki Tribes 2 Product Page. You can order the game directly from Loki.

Now that their third-person shooter is showing up in stores, MicroProse has released a new pair of maps for X-COM Enforcer. The official site is Flash-only so a direct link isn't possible, but you can find them in the Downloads section. The two deathmatch maps are called DM_DarknessFalls and DM_IceSkater and were created by level designer Chad Steingraber.

Action Half-Life beta 4 has been released. The official AHL site has been updated with a large list of mirrors for the Win32 client and server, the Linux dedicated server and the manual. The Win32 files weighs in at about 57 MB.

Blue Byte has quietly released a playable demo of The Settlers IV about two weeks ago in English and German incarnations, offering you a chance to try out their management strategy sequel. The demo weighs in at just under 100 MB and includes two tutorials, a single-player map, and two multiplayer levels. Thanks eagle-eyed Multiplayer.it, which has a mirror of the English demo online.

Any racing game, however esteemed its lineage, is going to have a tough time breaking onto the Dreamcast. The genre is stiff with competition from the likes of Metropolis Street Racer and F355 Challenge, leaving little room for intrusion. However Daytona USA 2001 managed it, we’ll never know.